The present invention relates to a connector formed by bending a large diameter electric wire which is used as a high-voltage electric wire into an L-shape, and more particularly, relates to a low height connector of which downsizing can be achieved without using a protector.
<Downsizing of a Connector>
Concerning an existing connector, it has been conducted to downsize the connector in view of necessity of a mounting space in a vehicle. In order to downsize the connector, the following two methods have been heretofore considered.
(1) Use of a protector: This is a method of providing a protector in a passage of a wire harness thereby to forcibly regulate the passage of the wire harness.
(2) Use of an L-shaped terminal: This is a method of bending a terminal of the connector into an L-shape, and forming a housing for containing the L-shaped terminal.
<(1) Use of a Protector>
An example of the connector using the protector is disclosed in JP-A-2010-211935.
The connector disclosed in JP-A-2010-211935 is a connector with an L-shaped high voltage electric wire which is formed by bending a high-voltage electric wire into an L-shape, connecting a terminal to a tip end of the high-voltage electric wire, surrounding the tip end of the high-voltage electric wire and the terminal with a housing, and then, covering the housing with a shield shell formed of aluminum. In this connector, an L-shaped bent part of the high-voltage electric wire is covered with a protector formed of resin, and further, the protector is provided with a rib thereby to give rigidity to the protector.
There are the following problems in using the protector. Firstly, components of the protectors must be provided separately for the respective passages.
Moreover, it is not easy to forcibly bend the high-voltage electric wire, because a thick wire such as the high-voltage electric wire has high resilience. Consequently, the high-voltage electric wire is bent in a large arc requiring a large space, and cannot make a low height connector.
Further, in order to forcibly regulate the passage using the protector, a thick rib for enabling the high-voltage electric wire to be bent resisting repulsion must be provided on the protector.
<(2) Use of an L-shaped Terminal>
FIGS. 3A to 3C are views for explaining a connector including terminals which have been bent into an L-shape and their housing. FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the connector having the L-shaped terminals, FIG. 3B is a front view of the connector as seen in a direction of an arrow mark 3B in FIG. 3A, and FIG. 3C is a sectional view taken along a line 3C-3C in FIG. 3B.
In FIGS. 3A to 3C, a small-sized connector 30 is provided with L-shaped terminals 30T which have been bent into an L-shape in advance. Electric wires W are connected to the L-shaped terminals 30T, a part of the L-shaped terminals 30T and the electric wires W are contained in a connector housing 30H, and then, surrounded with a protector 30P.
However, as a problem of this method, in case where a shape of the L-shaped terminals 30T is varied, the L-shaped terminals 30T become novel structures, and existing terminals cannot be used. In addition, the connector housing 30H for containing the terminals is also varied in shape and size, and becomes a novel structure, every time.